David Cameron's plan to legalize gay
marriage in Britain will cost the party votes, a new poll has found.
The British prime minister backs a plan
to move gay and lesbian couples from civil partnerships to full
marriage by sometime next year. Under the plan, gay couples would be
allowed to marry in a church.
According to the ComRes
survey of 544 UK Christians, 83 percent of churchgoers oppose the
idea, while 57 percent said the idea made them less likely to vote
for the Conservative Party, of which Cameron is the head.
A near universal majority (90%) of
those surveyed said they feared allowing gay couples to marry would
lead to schools being required to teach that a gay marriage is equal
to a heterosexual marriage and that clergy would be forced to
officiate over the weddings of gay couples against their consciences.
Eighty-five percent said marriage equality would undermine the
institution of marriage.
“The Government is consulting on
introducing civil marriage for same-sex couples,” the Conservative
Party said in a statement. “There is no question of churches or
any other religious institution being forced to host ceremonies for
same-sex marriage or for civil partnerships.”
“We believe society is stronger when
we make vows to each other and support each other. That is why we
support gay marriage.”
The online survey was conducted between
October 25 – 31.
(Related: David
Cameron makes conservative case for gay marriage.)